Dendron OKs coal plant in Surry County

SURRY — With no discussion, the Dendron Town Council unanimously reaffirmed land-use changes to pave way for a 1500-megawatt coal-fired power plant, which would be the largest in the state.

More than 200 residents turned out at the Dendron Volunteer Fire Department for a five-hour public hearing on Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s plan to build the $5 billion coal plant in Dendron.

The council reconsidered amending its comprehensive plan and zoning, as well as issuing a conditional-use permit, after its 2010 approval was overturned in circuit court. A Surry County judge ruled that the town’s approvals were invalid because the meeting had not been properly advertised.

The conditional use permit Dendron approved Monday included new protections, recommended last week by Surry County’s Planning Commission, that Old Dominion provide emergency medical personnel during plant construction, that the electric cooperative try to hire locals and that only coal ash from the on-site power plant be stored. The last was an attempt to close what critics call “the landfill loophole,” or the concern that, once zoned for industrial use, Old Dominion can use the 1,300-acre site to store coal ash from other plants.

Absent in the amendments was an agreement to pursue an independent environmental study of the plant, which at least one member of Surry’s Planning Commission had recommended last week. The recommendation was left out of the town’s considerations after an Old Dominion representative told the council that the Army Corps of Engineers had already contracted an independent study as part of its review.

Of almost 70 people who spoke at the hearing, more than 50 opposed the plant, citing health, environmental and community concerns, worry over emissions, fly ash and the economic fallout of failing to meet federal air quality standards regionally.

The opponents were also concerned that the landfill loophole wasn’t entirely sewn up by the conditional use permit, arguing that the rezoning would allow it as a matter of right if the plant weren’t built.

A new preference for natural gas fueled power plants also surfaced. “Similar revenue, similar jobs, similar benefits,” Dendron resident Thomas Threewitt told the council. “Without the emissions.”

Critics also rejected the idea that if the plant is denied in Dendron, Old Dominion will build in Sussex County, sending needed jobs and revenue there instead.

“That’s crack dealer logic,” Waverly resident Stephen Warren said. “‘Sure, crack is bad, but if they don’t get it from me, they’ll just get it from someone else. So I might as well get paid.’ That’s bad logic. It’s bad for a crack dealer and it’s bad for a town council.”

Plant supporters welcomed the plant for its promise to create 3,000 construction and 200 full-time permanent jobs from the plant and increased property values in the town. They said health and environmental concerns were overblown.

“The state and feds will not allow anybody to come in and harm anybody in our county,” former Surry County principal George Fauntleroy said, referring to the battery of reviews Old Dominion still faces.

Surry resident Lawrence Beale argued that technology has made coal-fired plants cleaner than in the past and that the nation’s coal reserves are plentiful and needed.

Although opponents at public hearings might outnumber plant advocates, Beale told the council, “The majority have already spoken. They spoke at the ballot box.”